A specialist Royal Air Force Regiment counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) unit has been sent to Denmark to boost security following a surge in unidentified drone incidents near civilian and military installations there that have disrupted air traffic.
The deployment was requested as Denmark was hosting two major European summits in Copenhagen: the EU leaders summit on 1 October 2025 and the Meeting of the European Political Community on 2 October.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey said the deployment to Denmark was a necessary step “in response to the drone attacks observed at its main airport and regional airports”, further adding that “no one should be in any doubt that we are facing a level of grey-zone activity and aggression which is testing us and testing other countries”.
The Danish drone incursions occurred between 22 and 28 September 2025 and affected Copenhagen Airport (as well as Oslo Gardermoen Airport in neighbouring Norway); Aalborg, Billund, Esbjerg and Sønderborg airports; and the Royal Danish Air Force bases at Skrydstrup and Karup. Drones during this period were also spotted near the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s Ørland Main Air Station and Norway’s Brønnøysund Airport. Drone activity also delayed flights on 26 September at Vilnius airport in Lithuania.
Including the UK, 10 Danish allies are providing anti-drone and surveillance support, according to Denmark’s military.
While Russian involvement is strongly suspected in the Danish drone incursions, they followed a series of Russian violations of NATO airspace. On 19 September Estonia became the third NATO nation in 10 days to suffer an airspace violation at the hands of Russian forces when three Russian MiG-31 ‘Foxhound’ fighters entered Estonian airspace “without permission and remained there for a total of 12 minutes” over the Gulf of Finland, according to the Estonian government.
The Estonian airspace incursion followed Polish airspace being violated 19 times on the night of 9/10 September by Russian drones during a heavy air raid on Ukraine, with responding Polish and other NATO air assets reportedly shooting down up to four of the drones, after which Romanian airspace was violated by a Russian Geran drone on 13 September.
On 12 September, in response to the initial Russian drone incursion over Poland, NATO launched its ‘Eastern Sentry’ mission: a military activity aimed at bolstering NATO’s posture to the east. However, with the subsequent air incursions having taken place, European leaders have called for an even more robust response.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated during a press conference on 22 September, “We will shoot down flying objects when they violate our territory and fly over Poland. There is absolutely no discussion about it.”
Also on 22 September Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson stated in an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, “No country has the right to violate Swedish airspace. Sweden has the right to defend its airspace, with force if necessary, and will defend its airspace.”
On 26 September, opening a NATO Military Committee conference in Riga, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, stated, “Air defence capabilities must be deployed across the entire eastern flank, and the transformation of the Baltic Air Policing mission into a Baltic Air Defence mission with appropriate rules of engagement must be accelerated.”
A Bloomberg report on 25 September asserted that British, French and German envoys had privately warned Moscow that NATO would be ready to shoot down any Russian aircraft violating European airspace.
